CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
CAMPING, TRAVELLING, SHOOTING, DREAMING, POETISING, PHILOSOPHISING, ANDSURPRISING, IN EQUATORIAL AFRICA.
At sunset the travellers halted in a peculiarly wild spot and encampedunder the shelter of a gigantic baobab tree.
Two rousing fires were quickly kindled, round which the natives busiedthemselves in preparing supper, while their leaders sat down, the one towrite up his journal, the other to smoke his pipe.
"Well, sir," said Disco, after a few puffs delivered with extremesatisfaction, "you do seem for to enjoy writin'. You go at that log ofyours every night, as if it wos yer last will and testament that yecouldn't die happy without exikootin' an' signin' it with yer blood."
"A better occupation, isn't it," replied Harold, with a sly glance,"than to make a chimney-pot of my mouth?"
"Come, sir," returned Disco, with a deprecatory smile, "don't be toohard on a poor feller's pipe. If you can't enjoy it, that's no argimentagainst it."
"How d'you know I can't enjoy it?"
"Why? cos I s'pose you'd take to it if you did."
"Did _you_ enjoy it when you first began?" asked Harold.
"Well, I can't 'zactly say as I did."
"Well, then, if you didn't, that proves that it is not _natural_ tosmoke, and why should I acquire an unnatural and useless habit?"
"Useless! why, sir, on'y think of wot you loses by not smokin'--wot adeal of enjoyment!"
"Well, I _am_ thinking," replied Harold, affecting a look of profoundthoughtfulness, "but I can't quite make it out--enjoyment? let me see.Do I not enjoy as good health as you do?"
"O, cer'nly, sir, cer'nly. You're quite up to the mark in thatrespect."
"Well then, I enjoy my food as well, and can eat as much, can't I?"
"No doubt of it," replied Disco, with a grin; "I was used to beconsidered raither a dab at wittles, but I must say I knocks under to_you_, sir."
"Very good," rejoined Harold, laughing; "then as to sleep, I enjoy sleepquite as soundly as yourself; don't I?"
"I can't say as to that," replied Disco. "You see, sir, as I neveropens my eyes arter shuttin' of 'em till the bo's'n pipes all handsahoy, I've no means of knowin' wot you accomplish in that way."
"On the whole, then, it seems that I enjoy everything as much as you do,and--"
"No, not everything; you don't enjoy baccy, you know.--But please, sir,don't go for to moralise; I can't stand it. You'll spile my pipe if yedo!"
"Well, I shall spare you," said Harold, "all the more that I perceivesupper is about--"
At that moment Antonio, who had gone down to a streamlet which trickledclose at hand, gave utterance to a hideous yell, and came rushing intocamp with a face that was pea-green from terror.
"Ach!" he gasped, "a lion! queek! your guns!" Every one leaped up andseized his weapon with marvellous alacrity on receiving an alarm soviolent and unlooked-for.
"Where away?" inquired Disco, blazing with excitement, and ready at amoment's notice to rush into the jungle and fire both barrels atwhatever should present itself.
"No, no, don' go," cried Antonio in alarm; "be cautionous."
The interpreter's caution was enforced by Chimbolo, who laid his hand onDisco's arm, and looked at him with such solemnity that he felt itnecessary to restrain his ardour.
Meanwhile Antonio with trembling steps led Harold to a point in thethicket whence he beheld two bright phosphoric-looking objects which hiscompanion said were the lion's eyes, adding that lion's eyes alwaysshone in that way.
Harold threw forward his rifle with the intention of taking aim, butlowered it quickly, for he felt convinced that no lion could possiblyhave eyes so wide apart unless its head were as large as that of anelephant.
"Nonsense, Antonio!" he said, laughing; "that cannot be a lion."
"Ho, yis, him's a lion, for sure," Antonio returned, positively.
"We shall see."
Harold raised his rifle and fired, while Antonio turned and fled, fullyexpecting the wounded beast to spring. Harold himself half looked forsome such act, and shrank behind a bush by way of precaution, but whenthe smoke cleared away, he saw that the two glowing eyes were gazing athim as fixedly as ever.
"Pooh!" exclaimed Disco, brushing past; "I knows wot it is. Many a timeI've seed 'em in the West Injies."
Saying which, he went straight up to the supposed lion, picked up acouple of glow-worms, and brought them to the camp-fires, much to theamusement of the men, especially of Jumbo, and greatly to the confusionof the valorous interpreter, who, according to his invariable customwhen danger threatened, was found to have sought refuge in a tree.
This incident furnished ground for much discussion and merriment duringsupper, in which Antonio, being in no wise ashamed of himself, joinednoisily; and Chimbolo took occasion to reprove Disco for his rashness,telling him that it was impossible to kill lions in the jungle duringthe darkness of night, and that, if they did pay them a visit, it wouldbe wise to let them be, and trust to the camp-fires keeping them at arespectful distance. To which Disco retorted that he didn't believethere was any lions in Afriky, for he'd heard a deal about 'em an'travelled far, but had not yet heard the sound of their woices, an', wotwas more, didn't expect to.
Before that night was far advanced, Disco was constrained to acknowledgehimself in error, for a veritable lion did actually prowl down to thecamp, and salute them with a roar which had a wonderfully awe-inspiringeffect on every member of the party, especially on those who heard itfor the first time in their lives.
Just before the arrival of this nocturnal visitor, one of the men hadbeen engaged in some poetic effusions, which claim preliminary noticehere, because they were rudely terminated by the lion.
This man was one of Kambira's people, and had joined the party bypermission. He was one of those beings who, gifted with something likegenius, or with superior powers of some sort, have sprung up in Africa,as elsewhere, no doubt from time immemorial, to dazzle their fellows fora little, and then pass away, leaving a trail of tradition behind them.The existence there, in time past, of men of mind far in advance oftheir fellows, as well as of heroes whose physical powers weremarvellous, may be assumed from the fact that some such exist at thepresent time, as well as from tradition. Some of these heroes haveexcited the admiration of large districts by their wisdom, others bytheir courage or their superior dexterity with the spear and bow, likeWilliam Tell and Robin Hood, but the memory of these must soon have beenobliterated for want of literature. The man who had joined Harold was apoet and a musician. He was an _improvvisatore_, composed verses on theincidents that occurred as they travelled along, and sang them with anaccompaniment on an instrument called the _sansa_, which had nine ironkeys and a calabash for a sounding-board.
The poet's name was Mokompa. With the free and easy disposition of hisrace, he allowed his fancy to play round the facts of which he sang, andwas never at a loss, for, if the right word did not come readily, hespun out the measure with musical sounds which meant nothing at all.
After supper was over, or rather when the first interval of reposeoccurred, Mokompa, who was an obliging and hearty little fellow, wascalled on for a song. Nothing loath, he seized his sansa and began aditty, of which the following, given by Antonio, may be regarded as aremarkably free, not to say easy, translation:--
MOKOMPA'S SONG.
Kambira goes to hunt, Yo ho! Him's spear am nebber blunt, Yo ho! Him kill de buff'lo quick, An' lub de porridge thick; Him chase de lion too, An' stick um troo an' troo. De 'potimus as well, An' more dan me can tell, Hab down before um fell, Yo ho! De English come to see, Yo ho! Dat werry good for we, Yo ho! No' take us 'way for slaves, Nor put us in our graves, But set de black mans free, W'en cotch um on de sea. Dem splendid shooters, too, We knows what dey can do Wid boil an' roast an' stew, Yo ho! One makes um's gun go crack, Yo ho! An elephant on um's back, Yo ho! De drefful lion roar, De gun goes crack once more, De bullet fly an' splits One monkey into bit
s, Yo ho! De glow-worm next arise, De Englishman likewise Wid werry much surprise, An' hit um 'tween de eyes, "Hooray! hooray!" um cries, An' run to fetch um's prize-- Yo ho!
The last "Yo ho!" was given with tremendous energy, and followed bypeals of laughter.
It was at this point that the veritable lion thought proper to join in,which he did, as we have said, with a roar so tremendous that it notonly put a sudden stop to the music, but filled the party with so muchalarm that they sprang to their arms with surprising agility.
Mindful of Chimbolo's previous warning, neither Harold nor Disco soughtto advance, but both looked at their savage friend for advice.
Now, in some parts of Africa there exists a popular belief that thesouls of departed chiefs enter into lions and render them sacred, andseveral members of Harold Seadrift's party entertained this notion.Chimbolo was one of these. From the sounds of growling and rendingwhich issued from the thicket, he knew that the lion in question wasdevouring part of their buffalo-meat which had been hung on the branchof a neighbouring tree, not, however, near enough to the fires to bevisible. Believing that the beast was a chief in disguise, Chimboloadvanced a little towards the place where he was, and, much to ourtraveller's amusement, gave him a good scolding.
"_You_ call yourself a chief, do you--eh?" he said sternly. "What kindof a chief can _you_ be, to come sneaking about in the dark like this,trying to steal our buffalo-meat! Are you not ashamed of yourself? Apretty chief, truly; you are like the scavenger-beetle, and think ofyourself only; you have not the heart of a chief. Why don't you killyour own beef? You must have a stone in your chest, and no heart atall."
"That's werry flowery lingo, but it don't seem to convince him," saidDisco, with a quiet smile, as the lion, which had been growlingcontinuously over its meal all the time, wound up Chimbolo's speech withanother terrific roar.
At this point another believer in transmigration of souls, a quiet manwho seldom volunteered remarks on any subject, stepped forward and beganseriously to expostulate with the lion.
"It is very wrong of you," he said, "to treat strangers in this fashion.You might have more respect for Englishmen who have come to see yourland, and never did you any harm. We are travelling peaceably throughthe country; we never kill anybody, and never steal anything; thebuffalo-meat is ours, not yours, and it ill becomes a great chief likeyou to be prowling about in the dark, like a hyena, trying to steal themeat of strangers. Surely you can hunt for yourself--there is plenty ofmeat in the forest." [See Livingstone's _Zambesi and its Tributaries_,page 160.]
As the lion was equally deaf to this man's reasoning, Harold thought itright to try a more persuasive plan. He drew up in a line all the menwho had guns, and at a word of command they fired a volley of balls intothe jungle, in the direction whence the sounds issued. A dead silencefollowed, but it was deemed advisable not to venture in to see theeffect, as men had frequently lost their lives by so doing. A watch,however, was kept during the night, and the fires were well replenished,for they knew that the king of the forest usually shrinks from doing hisevil deeds in the light of a strong camp-fire. We say usually--becausethey are not always thus shy. Authentic instances are on record oflions having leaped into the centre of a bivouac, and carried off one ofthe men in spite of being smitten in the face with flaming firebrands.Fortunately the lion of which we write thought "discretion the betterpart of valour." He retired peaceably, nevertheless Disco and hisfriend continued to dream of him all night so vividly that they startedup several times, and seized their rifles, under the impression that hehad roared his loudest into their very ears, and after each of theseoccasions they crept back into their sleeping bags to re-dream of thelion!
The "bag" which formed each man's couch was made simply of two matssewed together, and left open, not at one of the ends but at one of thesides, so that a man could roll out of or into it more easily than hecould have slid, feet first, into a sack. It was large enough also fortwo to sleep inside together, always supposing that the two were ofaccommodating dispositions!
That they had now reached a land which swarmed with wild animals wasintimated to some extent by the running past, within fifty yards oftheir bivouac, of a troop of elephants. It was daybreak at the time, sothat, having been thus rudely aroused, they did not deem it necessary toreturn to rest but after taking a hasty mouthful of food, set forth ontheir journey.
The usual mode of proceeding on the march was as follows:--They roseabout five o'clock, or soon after the appearance of dawn, and swalloweda cup of tea, with a bit of biscuit, then some of the men folded up theblankets and stowed them away in the bags, others tied up the cookingutensils, etcetera, in bundles, and hung them at the ends ofcarrying-sticks, which they bore upon their shoulders. The process didnot take long. They were soon on the march, either in single file, ifthe path were narrow, or in groups, according to fancy, where the groundadmitted of their spreading out. About nine, a convenient spot waschosen for a halt to breakfast, which meat, although not "_eaten_ thenight before in order to save time in the morning," was at all events_cooked_ on the previous evening for the same end, so that it onlyneeded warming up. Then the march was resumed; a short rest was allowedin the heat of the day, when, of course, Disco had a pipe and muchsagacious intercourse with his fellows, and they finally encamped forthe remainder of the day and night early in the afternoon. Thus theytravelled five or six hours at a stretch, and averaged from twelve tofifteen miles a day, which is about as much as Europeans can stand in ahot climate without being oppressed. This Disco called "taking iteasy," and so it was when compared with the custom of some travellers,whose chief end would appear to be the getting over as much ground aspossible in a given time, in order that they may afterwards boast of thesame, and for the accomplishment of which they are obliged to abuse andlook ferocious at the blacks, cock their pistols, and flourish theirwhips, in a manner which is only worthy of being styled contemptible andcowardly. We need not say that our friends Harold and Disco had no suchpropensities. They had kindly consideration for the feelings of their"niggers," coupled with great firmness; became very sociable with them,and thus got hearty, willing work out of them. But to return from thisdigression.
During the day, the number of animals of all sorts that were seen was sogreat as to induce Disco to protest, with a slap of his thigh, that thewhole land, from stem to stern, seemed to him to be one prodigiouszoological garden--it did, an' no mistake about it.
Disco was not far wrong. He and Harold having started ahead of theparty, with Chimbolo as their guide, came on a wonderful variety ofcreatures in rapid succession. First, they fell in with some largeflocks of guinea-fowl, and shot a few for dinner. As they advanced,various birds ran across their path, and clouds of turtle-doves filledthe air with the blatter of their wings as they rose above the trees.Ducks, geese, and francolins helped to swell the chorus of sounds.
When the sun rose and sent a flood of light over a wide and richlywooded vale, into which they were about to descend, a herd of pallahsstood gazing at the travellers in stupid surprise, and allowed them toapproach within sixty yards before trotting leisurely away. These andall other animals were passed unmolested, as the party had sufficientmeat at the time, and Harold made it a point not to permit his followersto shoot animals for the mere sake of sport, though several of them wereuncommonly anxious to do so. Soon afterwards a herd of waterbuckswere passed, and then a herd of koodoos, with two or threemagnificently-horned bucks amongst them, which hurried off to thehillsides on seeing the travellers. Antelopes also were seen, andbuffaloes, grazing beside their path.
Ere long they came upon a small pond with a couple of elephants standingon its brink, cooling their huge sides by drawing water into theirtrunks and throwing it all over themselves. Behind these were severalherds of zebras and waterbucks, all of which took to flight on "gettingthe wind" of man. They seemed intuitively to know that he was an enemy.Wild pigs, also, were common, and troops of monkeys, large and small,bar
ked, chattered, grinned, and made faces among the trees.
After pitching the camp each afternoon, and having had a mouthful ofbiscuit, the two Englishmen were in the habit of going off to hunt forthe daily supply of fresh meat accompanied by Chimbolo as their guideand game-carrier, Antonio as their interpreter, and Mokompa as theirpoet and jester. They did not indeed, appoint Mokompa to that post ofhonour, but the little worthy took it upon himself, for the expresspurpose of noting the deeds of the white men, in order to throw hisblack comrades into convulsions over supper by a poetic recital of thesame.
"It pleases them, an' it don't hurt us," was Disco's observation on thishead.
On the afternoon, then, of which we write, the party of four went out tohunt, while the encampment was being prepared under the superintendenceof Jumbo, who had already proved himself to be an able manager and cook,as also had his countrymen Masiko and Zombo.
"What a rich country!" exclaimed Harold, looking round in admirationfrom the top of a small hillock on as fine a scene as one could wish tobehold, "and what a splendid cotton country it might be if properlycultivated!"
"So it is," said Disco, "an' I shouldn't wonder if there wos lots ofgold too, if we only knew where to look for it."
"Gold!" exclaimed Antonio, who sat winking placidly on the stump of afallen tree; "dere be lots ob gold near Zambesi--an' oder ting too."
"Let's hear wot are some of the other things," said Disco.
"What are dere?--oh, let me see: der be coal, lots ob coal on Zambesi,any amount ob it, an' it burn fuss-rate, too. Dere be iron-ore, verymuch, an' indigo, an' sugar-cane, an ivory; you hab hear an' see yooselfabout de elephants an' de cottin, an' tobacco. [See Livingstone's_Zambesi and its Tributaries_, page 52.] Oh! great plenty ob eberytingeberywhere in dis yere country, but," said Antonio, with a shrug of hisshoulders, "no can make noting out ob it on account ob de slave-trade."
"Then I 'spose 'ee don't approve of the slave-trade?" said Disco.
"No, dat am true," replied Antonio; "de country very good forslave-trader, but no good for man like me what want to trade proper."
"H'm! I've more respect for 'ee than I had," said Disco. "I 'sposeyou've bin up in these parts before now, have 'ee?"
"No, nevah, but I hab sister what marry one nigger, one slave, what soldhimself, an' him tell me much 'bout it. Hims bin up here many time."
"Sold himself!" repeated Harold in surprise. "What do you mean?"
"Mean dat," returned Antonio. "Him was a black free-man--call himChibanti; him was all alone in de world, lose fader, moder, broder,sister, wife, eberyting by slave-trader, who steal dem all away ormurder dem. So Chibanti him say, `What de use of be free?' So him goto one master, who berry good to hims niggers--gib dem plenty to eat an'little to do--an' sole hisself to him."
"An' wot did he get for himself?" asked Disco.
"Got ninety yard ob cottin cloth."
"Did he consider himself cheap or dear at that?" inquired Disco.
"Oh, dear--awful dear!"
"What has come of him now?" asked Harold.
"Dunno," answered Antonio. "After him got de cloth, hims master sendhim to Quillimane wid cargo ob ivory, an' gib him leave to do leetiltrade on hims own account; so him bought a man, a woman, an' a boy, forsixty yard ob cottin, an' wid de rest hired slaves for de voyage down,an' drove a mos' won'erful trade. But long time since me hear ob him.P'raps hims good master be dead, an' him go wid de rest of de goods an'chattels to a bad master, who berry soon make him sorry him solehisself."
Pushing forward for several days in the manner which we have attemptedto describe, our travellers passed through many varied scenes, which,however, all bore one mark in common, namely, teeming animal andvegetable life. Human beings were also found to be exceedinglynumerous, but not so universally distributed as the others, for,although many villages and hamlets were passed, the inhabitants of whichwere all peacefully inclined and busy in their fields, or with theirnative cotton, iron, and pottery manufactures, vast expanses of richground were also traversed, which, as far as man was concerned, appearedto be absolute solitudes.
Entering upon one of these about noon of a remarkably fine day, Haroldcould not help remarking on the strange stillness which pervaded theair. No sound was heard from beast, bird, or insect; no village wasnear, no rippling stream murmured, or zephyr stirred the leaves; inshort, it was a scene which, from its solitude and profound silence,became oppressive.
"W'y, sir," said Disco, whose face was bathed in perspiration, "it doseem to me as if we'd got to the fag-end of the world altogether. Thereain't nothin' nowhere."
Harold laughed, and said it looked like it. But Disco was wrong. Itwas only the hour when animals seem to find a _siesta_ indispensable,and vegetables as well as air had followed their example. A few minutessufficed to prove their mistake, for, on entering a piece of woodland, aherd of pallahs, and another of water-bucks, appeared, standing as quietand still as if they were part of a painted landscape. Then, in passinga thick clump of thorns, they could see, through openings in the bushes,the dim phantom-like forms of buffaloes, with heads lowered and eyesglaring at them, ready to charge, if need be, though too lazy from heat,apparently, to begin the 'fray, and willing to act on the principle of"let be for let be." Still farther on, a native was observed keeping ata respectful distance. He had seen the travellers from afar, and comewith noiseless tread to get a nearer view.
Halting to rest the party for a few minutes in a shady hollow, Haroldthrew himself at full length on the grass, but Disco, who, strange tosay, did not feel inclined to smoke at the moment--probably because hehad only just finished his fifth pipe a few minutes previously--sauntered on alone to the top of the next ridge.
He had barely reached the summit when Harold, who chanced to be lookingafter him, observed that he crouched suddenly behind a bush, and, aftergazing steadfastly for a few seconds over the hill, turned and ran back,making excessively wild demonstrations with head and arms, but utteringno sound.
Of course the whole party sprang up and ran towards the excited mariner,and soon were near enough to understand that his violent actions weremeant to caution them to make no noise.
"Hush!" he said eagerly, on coming near enough to be heard; "keep quietas mice. There's a slave-gang, or somethin' uncommon like it, goin'along on right athwart us."
Without a word of reply, the whole party hurried forward and gained apoint of observation behind the low bushes which crowned the ridge.